Phone Numbers Evolving for IP World but Not Vanishing Yet, FCC CTO Says
DENVER -- Phone numbers will have a place for the next 20 years or more, FCC Chief Technology Officer Henning Schulzrinne predicted on a panel at NARUC’s meeting. He participated by phone: “Travel money is tight around here,” he explained. Phone numbers will remain important, if less visible to consumers and fraught with new problems of security and inefficiency. Schulzrinne emphasized that there are still numbers available but there will be new certification needs to avoid the ID spoofing and robocall problems that have emerged. There is a danger of phone abuse becoming worse than email spam due to changing technologies, he said.
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The underlying purposes of numbers are changing, speakers said. “We should think of them describing services and people,” Schulzrinne said of phone numbers, noting it’s unclear how much geography may factor into phone number assignments going forward. “The attachment to geography will not disappear but will become increasingly less important.”
"We should look at decoupling all telephone number assignments from geography,” said Neustar Labs Vice President-Advanced Technology Group Tom McGarry. People like associating their phone numbers with states, but there should be area code options not based on geography, he said. “Numbers disappear real quick unless we come up with a reason why numbers are so terrific,” said Daniel Berninger, founder of the Voice Communication Exchange Committee and an independent communications architect, calling Schulzrinne’s prediction of 20 years more of phone number existence optimistic. “How many people really remember their numbers anymore?” These numbers are built into device address books now, he said, saying he doesn’t know the number of his wife: “The hook that that number has on your life decreases, and the future of numbers becomes less certain."
"Numbering resources and their efficient use” is a piece of the Internet Protocol transition “puzzle,” said ETC Group President Dave Malfara, a consultant to broadband providers. “Number conservation measures are going to come around,” McGarry said, stressing that the larger number of devices calling for numbers will “demand more resources.” People need to convey user information “dynamically” to help efficiently make use of numbering resources, so not every device requires a new phone number, Malfara said. Berninger disputed the notion that numbering resources are truly scarce, and indicated there can always be more numbers if needed.
There is a need to establish parameters of IP interconnection among networks, Malfara said. A Skype subscriber can’t communicate with a Vonage subscriber in IP currently, he said. Commerce, social networking and public safety may be far accelerated once a foundation for these communications changes is established, he said. Vonage has been “very engaged” on gaining direct access to phone numbers, said Senior Regulatory Counsel Brendan Kasper. Doing so facilitates IP interconnection, he explained. “We already have several IP interconnection agreements with carriers that cannot be readily implemented because our partners cannot route traffic to us.” He stressed the importance of being recognized in industry databases. IP interconnection will lead to higher quality and lower cost service, he said, pointing to the onset of high-definition voice. There’s a need for more transparency of number usage, which these changes would help give, he said. “We're obviously going to see that,” McGarry said of IP interconnection. The changes will mean fewer points of interconnection, however, he said, stressing the differences of IP routing.
Kasper described the FCC’s direct access number trials under way and said they will “shed light” on ease of granting such direct access. Through the current trials, stakeholders should “glean as much information as possible” on the underlying complexity of the issues, Malfara said. “I don’t see much of a change in the state role,” at least in relation to direct access of numbering, Kasper said. The most important thing states are concerned about is “conservation and the use of numbers, and I think that will continue,” McGarry said. The state role is “pretty well carved out,” Malfara said.